


Brush It With A New Coat of Paint

by nubianamy



Series: (What It Looks Like and) What It Is [5]
Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode: s01e07 The State Dinner, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Long-Term Relationship(s), Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28207329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nubianamy/pseuds/nubianamy
Summary: After the state dinner, Leo and Abbey spend a little time reconnecting in Leo’s hotel room.
Relationships: Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet, Abbey Bartlet/Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry, Abbey Bartlet/Leo McGarry, Jed Bartlet/Leo McGarry
Series: (What It Looks Like and) What It Is [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2021147
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	Brush It With A New Coat of Paint

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from this conversation between Abbey and CJ from episode 1x07 The State Dinner:
> 
> ABBEY  
> It's our history. Better or worse, it's our history. We're not going to lock it in the basement or brush it with a new coat of paint. It's our history.
> 
> C.J.  
> Okay, well. Good answer.
> 
> ABBEY  
> You know, the truth will do it almost all the time.

Abbey stretched out on the hotel bed, picking up the extra cushions and throwing them over the side. “How many pillows does one person need? Honestly.”

“You must be sick of sleeping in hotel rooms,” Leo said. “Reminds me of the campaign trail. At least this hotel has soft beds. I remember how firm the mattresses were in that hotel in Islamabad.”

“Well, here, in the US, we can be indulgent.” She rolled over and smiled up at him. “There have to be some positive sides to capitalism.”

He grinned back. When he leaned over to kiss her, she sighed. “It’s been a long three weeks here without you, let me tell you.”

“Yeah, believe me, when I listened to Jed go on about Our Town the other night, I knew I’d been away too long. The way you sent him into that teamster meeting, I almost felt bad for them. Almost.”

“Don’t,” Leo assured her. “Seymour Little could use a regular opportunity to be told he’s wrong, if you ask me. And when I heard Jed ask me ‘What do I do now,’ I knew he needed something to focus on besides hurricanes and the situation in McClane.”

“That was exactly what I told Sam. Jed tends to perseverate about things he can’t change. He loses track of what’s important.” She pulled her knees up, circling them with her arms. “I bet he didn’t even say anything about how good you looked in your tux at the party.”

“I think he said something appropriately platonic. He certainly didn’t compare me to Fred Astaire.” He nodded at her lack of clothing. “I could get you a shirt or something. Aren’t you cold?”

“Leo, it must be seventy-five degrees in here.” She snorted in amusement. “You’re always cold. How ever did you survive in the military?”

“The war was in Vietnam,” he protested. “Do you know how hot it is there?”

She scooted over to sit close beside him, wrapping an arm around him in his long-sleeved button-up pajamas. “You are turning into an old man before my eyes.”

“You really need to work on your pillow talk.” He let her kiss him again. “Trust me, I’m the one who’s turning into an old man. It’s a lot weirder from the inside.”

“Well, we’re both getting old, but so what? We’ve still got it where it counts. In more ways than one. I am certainly not complaining.” She settled against his chest, smiling to herself. “Being back in DC gets better every day.”

“Tell me that again three weeks from now, once you’re sick to death of dealing with his bullshit again.”

She let out a fake gasp. “I can’t believe you’re talking about _the president_ that way.”

“Only where he can’t hear me.” Leo stroked the soft skin of Abbey’s stomach. “Old. Give me a break. How can you possibly still be so beautiful?”

“Dealing with Jed’s bullshit is good for my complexion. Also I drink two glasses of water before bed every day.” She idly touched the back of his hand. “You know, when Jed and I first started going to therapy, we had no idea how bad things already were in our marriage.”

“When was that?”

“Oh, I don’t know. No, I take that back, it was just before Jed decided to run for congress a third time. So that would have been, what, ’87? I told him I was going to divorce him if he did that. I just about did, too.” She sounded like the memory amused her.

“That was a long time ago,” he said. “You did eventually convince him to go to therapy.”

“And he got me to agree to stick around. And he did run, even in the midst of everything. And thank god for therapy.” She held up her hand, and he interlaced his fingers in hers. “I remember the first day he admitted he was in love with you.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m pretty sure the rules of confidentiality say you don’t get to tell me about that.”

“Maybe if he hadn’t said it to you since then.” She sat up far enough so she could meet his eyes. “Assuming he has.”

“Maybe once or twice over the last eleven years,” Leo agreed, fighting a smile.

“Well, that’s a relief. At least he says it to somebody.”

He shook his head. “You know he adores you.”

“I know he needs me. That’s not the same thing.”

Leo tugged her around to face him. “Are you kidding me? Seriously, Abbey, on the list of important things in the world, you are at the very top.”

“No,” she said firmly. “At the moment, the people of the United States are at the very top. You are just below them. I rate a distant seven, below his three daughters and chess.”

“I sometimes wonder how we can love the same man and see him so differently.” He sighed. “I guess we could corner him and get him to talk about it… okay, okay, that was not meant to be a joke.”

It took her a while to stop snorting with laughter. “Leo, you have no idea how much I struggle to get him to say five words to me in any given day.”

“I suppose I do know that.” He squeezed her hand. “Why do you think I let him go on and on about things? I mean, what do you think he’s doing right now?”

“I’m sure I have no idea.” She schooled her face. “Go on, I’m listening. Tell me what he’s doing right now.”

“He’s talking with Josh about our glorious national parks.”

“Ohhh, god.” She buried her forehead into his shoulder, groaning. “Maybe I should manufacture an emergency, just to get Josh out of there.”

“No, no, I think it’s good for him. For Josh. I mean… Jed needs an opportunity to talk about other things. That’s really not going to happen if it’s not after midnight.”

She stopped laughing abruptly, her smile vanishing. “Oh, you mean—wait. He’s going to tell Josh? We didn’t talk about this.”

“Abbey, he can’t keep it a secret forever from his staff.”

“You say that like it’s the only secret we’re keeping.”

He waited a few moments, watching her eyes tell him things without words. Then he shook his head. “That one will come out eventually, too. I have to assume it will. But it’s not about _now._ This one… if you haven’t noticed, this is _now.”_

“If I haven’t noticed?” She gestured at the bed, at her naked presence in it. “For crying out loud, Leo!”

He laughed, and she laughed back. Then she hugged him.

“All right,” she said into his pajama shirt. “Josh. But if there’s anybody else, you tell me first. I need to be able to keep track of who I’m supposed to keep lying to.”

“Do people even ask you questions anymore? I’d think as First Lady, you’d be able to use the _none of your business_ excuse more readily than you could before.”

“Sometimes I have to justify it to myself by thinking of it as medicine,” she said. “I’m the doctor; I prescribe both of us. Without you, he would piss everybody off. Without me, he wouldn’t be able to function.”

“Okay,” Leo said dubiously. “How do you justify you and me, then?”

Abbey sniffed. “Before Jenny left, I couldn’t. Now…” She shrugged, looking suddenly uncertain.

“You’re my anti-medicine?” he suggested. “You planning to keep me sober?”

“If I said I was going to try, you’d just end up resenting me.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to replace Jenny as your scapegoat.”

“Fair.” He tried to keep his tone light, but it was hard with the lump in his throat. “How about you assume I can assign blame on my own without you helping me?”

“Okay,” she agreed. Now she looked relieved. When she hugged him, he kissed her again, and this time she didn’t hesitate to kiss him back. Then he gathered her back into the crook of his arm.

“Him, after the state dinner, talking with that young man on the Hickory,” Leo murmured to her. “It was terrible. And I was so proud of him.”

“You’re always proud of him,” she objected.

“Especially proud. It was one of those moments where I was glad nobody was looking at me, because they sure as hell would have seen how I felt about him.”

“He’s damn good at those extravagant, improbably intimate gestures.He won’t get it right every time, but the fact that he tries, that’s the thing people remember. Like Lincoln. Like Truman.”

“Except he won’t be compared favorably to either of them until he’s dead,” said Leo.

“Not a goal, necessarily, but potentially a feature of being a president with a low approval rating. With any luck, they won’t love him until many decades have passed. In the meantime…” She shrugged. “He’s got us.”


End file.
